#god i just LOVE zelda shes such a great character

[jerma85]

god i LOVE zelda sorry to you freaks that say she's boring, she's such a good character throughout all of the games. yes of course there are flaws in certain games where she gets no personality cough wind waker but she's such a genuinely cool character and i love her so much.

[genericpuff]

Genuinely I would give anything to hear your thoughts or read more critical analysis of yours on other webcomics writing (*slides you Marionetta* I like the webtoon but there are some things in the writing that I'd like to see be discussed critically more often but the fandom focuses way too much on shipping. sighs..)

Anyway, you probably have been asked this before but are there any webtoons in particular you would recommend? :D

Oh lord, you don't know how many times a week I get asks in my inbox asking for my opinions on webtoons they're reading. It's really sweet that people wanna hear me talk about other works outside of LO, but unfortunately I just don't have the time to read as much as I used to, even keeping up on LO lately is getting really difficult 😅 I'm definitely keeping a list though of works to check out!

That said, I try not to read series on the basis of criticizing them because frankly I just... don't want to spend time reading something if people are only looking for me to rag on it? 😆 Of course I know that's not the only reason, I know there's also just the element of seeing me talk extensively about other works the way that I do with LO, but it's not really something I can turn on and off like that, I have to get really into a series to want to talk about it to that extent. So it often comes down to just luck of the draw :'0

Right now the series I'm keeping up the most on (or have completed and would absolutely 100% re-read):

Alfie (18+, it's porn with plot but the plot is REALLY GOOD , I SWEAR LMAO the art is gorgeous, the characterization is IMMACULATE, and it ironically tackles the subject of purity culture way better than LO ever has lol)

Theia Mania (the creator is often in my comment section / neck of the woods, she's been working on an Abduction of Persephone retelling for a long while now and has also tackled other myth retellings in her style! I always love seeing new pages of her work in my feed :' ) <3)

Tales from Alderwood (if you like fantasy and comedy, this one's great, the plot's really starting to get interesting and it's just got this really great sense of humor about it)

The Black Parade (this one's REALLY interesting, it's a comic-stylized version of My Chemical Romance's The Black Parade, using the songs as narration and sometimes even dialogue to tell a visual story, it's really cool and the art matches beautifully with the lyrics and style of MCR!)

A Tale of Two Rulers (this is a Legend of Zelda fancomic that poses the question, "What if Zelda and Ganondorf got married to solve their political crisis?" It updates a lot slower than most of the other comics I follow but the art and writing is so worth it <3)

Dogs of Future Past (and p much all of Lynx's Undertale comics which can be found in the link, seriously, THESE are the comics you wanna read if you wanna get into Undertale fanworks, they are PEAK)

Tamberlane (this one's an anthro comic, I normally don't read anthro but this one actually gripped me by the throat, the art is gorgeous and the character arcs so far have been great!)

The Mafia Nanny (okay it's legit so funny that I'm including this one here but I've been reading it the last couple days after seeing it basically beat out LO at the top of the trending tab for a couple days, so I figured I'd give it a shot, at first I was like "great more tropey shit" but the more I read it the more it's actually started to get pretty good, I'm holding out and hoping to god it stays that way LOL it's not especially deep or anything like that, but it's really fun and cute to read and the shipping of the main character within the narrative isn't too self-absorbed which I can always appreciate, I'd honestly be 100% fine with it if it didn't turn into a romance)

City of Blank (I talk about this one a lot here, but it's one of my favorite Originals right now, the art is super polished and the writing has gotten INTENSE, go check it out if you want some fun action / sci-fi storytelling!)

Time and Time Again (a time-travelling vampire and his werewolf boyfriend get into all kinds of misadventures, what more could you ask for?)

Touch of Divinity (like the Mafia Nanny, this is one I just started reading, it's got a very interesting premise so far and I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes!)

[niffty24]

Why do I hate TOTK?

(yeah no one gives a shit and yet this is my tumblr and I can rant it I want to)

Also realized while people can totally hide the tag totk critical a cut might be helpful

The racism, the imperialism, the white supremacy. How the whole game feels like propaganda for the aforementioned things.

The utter lack of writers respect for women. Girl llama is so unimportant that she's only there to give Zelda a stupid idea and die. Fridge, or Sonia, or whatever the (originally cool looking) lady is called, is just there to die. That's it, she had no point otherwise. They insert a shiny zora-mon to make Sidon straight and now anyone who says that's literally all she exists for gets shit on.

And my GOD the character assassination of Zelda is atrocious. She accidentally uses her magic to go back 10k years and then can't do the same because she's too stupid to figure it out. I know sword repairs and whatever, but honestly, that's at best a lame excuse.

The sages of the past are just mouthpieces to propagate the 'zonia king is great and vassalage is fo-shizal' and are also FACELESS non-characters who could all be replaced with dildos and might then at least be funny.

The fact that all the npcs are either like; oh wow we sure love being in the wreckage of an empire and hope to build a just as stupid empire that subjugates people the same way that the next version of ganon will wipe off the map because we've learnt NOTHING. Also, capitalism is great isn't it? Let's all work hard to make a bunch of money after we barely survived the apocalypse because money is soooooo important guys! Not community, not anything else! CAPITALISM!!!!!!!!@!!

Honestly I hate the whole thing and was only there for the aesthetic, but god I wish bascially 90% of fan made stories were the actual story and I hope none of the other loz games follow suit in propaganda.

[wutheringmights]

Hey out of curiosity, I know most of the main cast in CTB is pulled from either Legend of Zelda game canons (Princess Zelda, Lana, Ganondorf in name, etc) or Linked Universe, but out of your original characters (especially Kat, Marigold, and the various Knights of Hyrule), did u give any of them symbolic or referential names?

Oh boy do I got the fun post for you:

Lincoln is straight up my Linksona. Just think of him as another version of the character Link

Marigold is supposed to be the typical red-headed love interest for a Link-like character; even her name is meant to fit right in with characters like Malon, Marin, and Midna.

Warriors's last name was originally going to be Warton, but I changed it to Walton when I learned that it meant "noble."

Meemaw is a reference to the Bertolt Brecht character Mother Courage (from his play Mother Courage and Her Children; I had just finished reading it for a seminar class when CTB first came to me). The characters even share a first name: Anna

Similarly, Kat is based off of Mother Courage's daughter, Kattrin; a famously silent-due-to-truama character

Kat's siblings also share names and fates with Mother Courage's sons: Eli is Eilif, and Cheddar is Swiss Cheese (yes, that's his real name)

Orlanda was named for Virginia Woolf's famous character Orlando; originally, I was going to have Orlanda be nonbinary, but changed my mind when I realized it wouldn't be a good idea to make your sacrificial character your nonbinary representation.

Shigeo's name was originally just going to be Shig, as a reference to Shigeru Miyamoto, but I changed it when I started to rewatch Mob Psycho 100. Shigeo is meant to be a homage to a common original character type I kept reading in Warriors-centric fics: the young Sheikah guy for Warriors to have a romance with. However, Shigeo was never envisioned with a romantic relationship in mind. He was always meant to be this cool, older guy type. However, I did almost have Warriors have a crush on him, then deleted that concept for space.

Gaudin was named after a French criminal for no reason. Genuinely, I just liked the name.

Anders was originally going to be named Betolt in honor of Brecht, but that felt heavy handed.

Jakucho is just meant to be the old woman version of the general Impa character to match the badass young woman version that is actually in Hyrule Warriors. Her name means "silent, lonely listening." I liked how it related to her role as Warriors's mentor/therapist.

Impa's real name, Chiyo, means "thousand generations, thousand worlds." I like how it related to the idea that she's always wanted to assume the same role as her ancestors.

I originally picked their surname Miyashita because the site I was on said it translated to something like "temple below the earth," which would reference the Kakariko Well. Checking now, it actually means "(one who lives) below the shrine," which makes way more sense in retrospect.

Ayane has no special name meaning, but her character... you do realize she's just Mask, right?

General Whitestone's name came from me asking myself what would a highly suspicious white guy in charge be called?

The name Nephus translates to "a God's son who will also become a God." Do I mean that literally? Who knows. At the very least, I wanted a snappy, but impressive-sounding name.

Vasileios means "royal or kingly". His middle name, Orionides, implies that he's the son of a great hunter.

Icarius's name is meant to be reminiscent to that of Icaurs, the famous mythological figure.

Philo means "lover or friend." A very cute name for a not-so-cute boy.

You probably have realized that the House of Nephus characters are heavily Greek/Roman coded. Originally, they were going to be Russian coded, but then the line about Faovaria being unable to attack some other kingdom due to their harsh winters would have fallen into question.

Faovaria's symbol being an octopus is a reference to how the octopuses symbolized immortality in ancient Greece.

Both of those were super off-topic. Sorry lol

I'll end with a fun fact you shouldn't look too deep into: the empire name Faovaria is derived from Farore. This was due to a concept I changed my mind about. Genuinely, it's not relevant anymore. Do not incorporate it into your theories, or something.

[vestaclinicpod]

Audio Drama Sunday - 6th August ✨

Hello, August, and happy #AudioDramaSunday! My ears have been well looked after this week! 

SPOILERS!!

🌲@hellofromthehallowoods (128) My toxic trait is that I am an absolute SUCKER for a story with mother-child conflict. Percy’s life is (was?) so horrific on so many levels, if anyone deserves a Dogsmell cuddle, it’s Percy. Also, can we talk about how the line ‘Diggory, for all their love, was one more obsession unto destruction’ just opened up my chest like a clamshell to better stab me in the heart? I feel like Zelda needs to go on some kind of watch, she’s a law unto herself and I worry what will happen when her luck and tenacity reach their limit!! I love that Walt’s house is still being used as a sanctuary for those who need it.

It’s one thing to haunt the narrative, it’s another to leave a legacy of kindness which blooms eternally. 🖤🗡

🧛‍♂️ A GREAT week of @re-dracula!! Updates from Mina are a tonic for the soul, and updates from the Demeter are . . . well, excellent in their own way. Alasdair Stuart has been amazing in this role! I listened to the sea shanty while cycling in the rain and it created such a mood. Yes, I was being splashed by puddle water, but, hey, at least I wasn’t on the Demeter! 

🧬 Regina Prime (5) Another stunning episode of Regina Prime has left me with even more questions than answers! We’ve been given a glimpse of the vitriol Omega harbours for Regina Prime and some idea of what she’ll do to achieve her goal. It’s . . . intense. 

 💫 Wolf 359 (33-37) GOD this show!!! I was initially a little sceptical over why this show was still so many people’s favourite, even years after it was released, but I totally understand. These characters are perfectly flawed and I’m hooked on all the mysteries! Also - the EIFFEL LORE. I need to know! What?! What happened?!!?

🎩 @ethicstownpod (6) Nothing is going well in Ethics . . . this podcast really worms into my brain and makes me think about it all day. I’m also camp ‘try to fix this mess in case it makes it makes it better for someone somewhere’. Come on, January, there are some brains in jars that need you to work it out!! 

🥾@doyoucopypod (4) Horror tropes! Come and get your horror tropes!! I felt a little evil, but this ep made me grin so much. Every time they tried something new to help leave the Dead Zone, it just so obviously wasn’t going to work! Besties, put that map away, you don’t even know how to read it!! 

I have a week off next week and I can’t wait to fill it with lots of listening! There’s new @malevolentcast to enjoy, we’re out of the @nightvaleradio hiatus, and I still need to find out what the deal is with Angela in Tiny Terrors! Hope everyone has a lovely weekend! 

[themarydragon]

How um

How illegal is it for me to ask about multiple fics for that ask game. Just out of curiosity.

Because I would love to know about some of the fics I haven’t heard about, like Bloomic Toasty (WHAT is that), and I would love to hear your thoughts about The Chakwas Fic (supreme group trauma edition).

But I am also 👀👀👀👀👀👀👀 about any mention of the totk fics. Respectfully.

You can answer this privately if you want, I’m genuinely not wanting to be a pest here

Completely legal. Any fine I might charge you, you have prepaid in kindness.

"Blooming Panic" is a great little visual novel somebody on here turned me onto, with "Bloomic" being the self-referential shorthand they use in-game. It was great for a mental break last winter when I was sorta in the shit and I think it's free on itch.io That and Andromeda Six (not yet finished) and Our Life were a nice break from darker/harder games and were exactly the diversion I needed. A+ do recommend. That said, there's four routes for Bloomic, and each route has "good" and "bad" endings (as per usual) and the 'bad' ending for Toaster (not their real name) Would Not Stop rolling around in my head. It haunted me. So "Bloomic Toasty" is my taking The Bad Ending and fixing it. Because I can't stand sad endings. Life is sad enough, I want my escapism to be different. I don't have the power to give myself or my loved ones happy endings (all jokes aside) but By God I can do it in fic.

THE CHAKWAS FIC is 65% complete. I have the bare bones ready, I know the ending, I have a (very) rough outline and right now I'm writing When Everything Gets Bad. So it's slow. Part I is complete, and is ME1 time. Part 2 is finished and ALMOST all posted - I'm posting a chapter a week, on Wednesdays - and is ME2 time. Part 2 ends in a place that got me yelled at by everyone I've disclosed the ending to so I'm looking forward to getting hate mail in a couple weeks. Part 3 is my WIP, it's ME3 time and is what I am writing right now. I will NOT be posting it right when I finish part 2 because I need to get it DONE and be sure I'm hitting the right points/plots and I'm not leaving threads dangling. Part 4 is outtakes, more or less, and I have no idea how much will eventually end up there. It is Chakwas' POV. I adore Karin Chakwas, and writing from her perspective allows me to completely gloss over most of the missions and deal instead with the implications of them, and dig into some secondary/background characters that otherwise don't get much time to shine. Writing from Chakwas' POV also - and most importantly - gave me an opportunity to fix the gaping plot hole that is Jeffrey "Joker" Moreau, as well as the utter character assassination that is committed upon him in ME3. TL:DR we already know, NOW, the genes responsible for Vrolik's and there is gene therapy in the ME universe (canonically, as early as ME1) so what the hell, Bioware. Anyways. The WIP I'm currently on - Through Hell - focuses on how more or less everyone (outside the ship) betrays Shepard, in one way or the other. Every major government - canonically - knows the Reapers are real, and yet literally no one will help Shepard deal with it, for a variety of infuriating reasons, and she's smart enough to see how fucked up it all is. By focusing the fic on the Normandy crew (via Chakwas) I can get into the meat of that and have a good reason to skip most of the gameplay.

TOTK I just did a blurb on the Zelda POV for another ask, so I'll expound a little on the Link POV. The title is Restless Waters, from a quote by Sanober Khan: "Do not turn me into restless waters if you cannot promise to be my stream.”

The runner-up for title quote is from Bertolt Brecht, "The headlong stream is termed violent but the riverbed hemming it in is termed violent by no one.”

Thinking about canon Link... he's terrifying. The totk Link commits korok atrocities, intentional or not, as strapping them to ROCKETS is EXPECTED. The murder machines you are encouraged to make are horror shows. But what struck me is (serious spoilers here) the doppleganger fight once you have the four sages. Sidon and Riju know that's not Zelda, but the younger two - Tulin and Yunobo - definitely think that's their Princess. So them showing up to help at that fight is just tooooooo good for me to pass up. The song I'm using to stay in the mindset to write that passage is Halsey's "Control"

And all the kids cried out, "Please stop, you're scaring me" I can't help this awful energy Goddamn right, you should be scared of me Who is in control?

[theviolenttomboy]

So yeah, it was pretty fun at the Nintendo NY store a few days ago for the direct. Not sure if I'll go to another one though, and definitely never during the summer. The store has air conditioning but all those people packed in one area? Had to find a place to be alone and cool off afterwards.

For the most part, the people were cool, though the guy recording/live-streaming behind me was kinda...eh? Guy was more preoccupied with his own video rather than anything else, considering he literally tried to demand for the volume to be lowered when the Just Dance portion popped up so that the music wouldn't demonetize him. And since he was directly behind me, he was kinda always right in my ear with his own commentary.

Still though, again, there were some cool people. Ended up temporarily buddying up with someone while waiting in line. Ha, he said he was visiting from out of state and he was super lucky when the direct was just announced the day before. And he was super excited for an excuse to visit the store. For some of the presentations he quickly explained some stuff I didn't know, and vice versa.

It really is hard not to get swept up in the excitement when you're with other people. I was hollering and cheering for the stuff I was excited for, and even for the others I couldn't help applauding.

So for the games I'm personally super hyped for? Just four really, but yeah, SUPER hyped.

Oh my god, the moment Luigi popped out of the bushes, I recognized that art style, even though it's now in 3D. I loved playing Inside Story years ago and Brothership looks absolutely beautiful. I honestly wonder who's working on it since Alphadream closed? A few employees ended up in Nintendo or Nintendo-adjacent companies, and it'd be great if they were working on this.

I wanna take you for a ride...! There used to be an arcade I went to all the time growing up but it closed down around a decade ago. I have such fond memories of that arcade. (I do not acknowledge the Dunkin' Donuts that had since replaced it) Marvel vs Capcom 2 was one of my favorite games there (along with DDR), with its music and characters and action and aaaaah I can't wait to get back to it, and really experiment with all the characters instead of just spamming my gun with Cable ^-^

I want a chibi Zelda toy so bad. Maybe a keychain at least? She's so cuuuute! And yeah, finally, her first, long overdue game. The gameplay looks super engaging! I don't know why people are bitching about her not having a sword when her primary mode of attack is to throw boulders at her enemies. And following that, the spirits of her slain. That's pretty metal.

And finally, Ace Attorney Investigations! I'm so happy I got into the AA series last year, and I can't wait to experience more! Been busy and I kept putting off watching a playthough of AAI, but yaaaaay, now I can play for myself! Probably an extra good thing that I never picked up on the fan-translated names, lol. I hope the Layton crossover makes its way too, and hopefully more from the franchise in general as well!

[e-adlirez]

Seen your answer about your favorite moments for each of the thea sisters in the special editions, so how about your favorites thea sisters moments in the main series? And also which one is your favorite book from the main series?

MMMNNNHHHH

Okay so uhhh hmmm the last six books in the old artstyle are the ones I say where Thea Stilton peaked in adventure content (those being Old Castle, Blue Scarab Hunt, Prince's Emerald, Dancing Shadows, Orient Express, and Legend of the Fireflowers). Personally, I often flip back and forth between Old Castle, Blue Scarab Hunt, and Orient Express being my favorites because I have a soft spot for the first two (they were the first books I read in the series) and Orient Express is just goated in general

Orient Express is my current favorite, but expect it to change

OKAY FAVORITE MOMENTS, once again splitting it with lighthearted/dialogue moments, and important key moments in the plot

Lighthearted/dialogue moments:

Colette - Her literally becoming the embodiment of those cartoon characters yeeting their entire wardrobe over their head because they can't figure out what to wear for the occasion (Great Tulip Heist)

Nicky - That one time she made a dig at Violet because she slept in so hard that it made the girls late to their tournament day 1 (Roman Holiday)

Pam - When she called Ashvin the kid-friendly version of "a hot f#$kin' mess" (Ice Treasure)

Paulina - Her having to take a lotta copium from not having her phone or tablet with her in the jungle (Madagascar Madness)(I felt so called out ;w;)

Violet - Tie between the time she dunked on Enrico Mousetti's classist ass (Dancing Shadows) and "Well, in that case, we'd like to visit the castle while it's still standing." (Secret of the Old Castle)

Plot moments:

Colette - The time she did the classic "hot woman walks into the hallway" thing in Mystery in Paris

Nicky - THAT ONE TIME SHE CLIMBED ON TOP OF AND JUMPED OFF A SPEEDING FIRETRUCK (Big Trouble in the Big Apple)(I know she scaled a train in Orient Express, but this scene felt more badass)

Pam - Any and all chase scenes where she was driving ngl, woman carried (off the top of my head I can remember Blue Scarab Hunt and Prince's Emerald)

Paulina - Prince's Emerald, woman carried that book on her back and we love it, I hope she got a long, hot shower after that

Violet - Either the moment she figured out the giant boulder riddle in Blue Scarab Hunt, the time she big-brained the crap out of the mystery and told the girls that Fadhili was the traitor in Lion's Den, or uh the belowdeck scene in Ghost of the Shipwreck (I'm convinced that that was the moment that cemented Violet as my blorbo for second grade me), honorable mention goes to Violet tying a chess metaphor into the villain's strategy in Orient Express, said metaphor becoming the key to realizing what the villain was up to

Notice how the last six books appeared semi-frequently in my rankings? That's how goated they are :]

Honorable mention for a uh a scene in general is a scene between Vi and Paulina in Orient Express:

"Ohmygodohmygodohmygod it's Zelda Mitoff :DDDDD"

"Yeah but good god her secretary's an idiot, he forgot one whole trunk in the luggage count"

".... bish you just saw the ballerina equivalent of Whitney Houston pass by and all you could think about was b o x e s ?"

I dunno if the Whitney Houston analogy makes sense but you get what I mean, that's peak fangirl right there, you love to see it

Anyway hope that answers your question, now I'm gonna wait cutely for ya'll to read the Treasure Seekers because it's really good (besides the power of friendship stuff), okay byeeeeeeee

[hello-eeveev]

tagged by @quinn-of-aebradore (and I was tagged in a very similar thing by @spottedenchants a bit ago but didn’t get around to it before this, so I hope you don’t mind me combining them!) thank you :D

Last song I listened to: “Sometime We’ll Understand” from the Lamb of God Easter oratorio by Rob Gardner. With the season and driving by a bunch of churches with Easter signs, I got real nostalgic for Easter music because there are so many great pieces. And Lamb of God holds a lot of memories for me because my dad was the lead cellist for the local production for several years, and I even got to take part one year. And it is just soooo musically tasty and I was just filled with energy listening to it yesterday. The CHOIR, the SOLOISTS, the SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA!!! If you remember me expressing my love for French horns a few weeks ago, Lamb of God played no small part in establishing this opinion. If you don’t mind Christian hymns, I highly recommend checking it out, and all of Rob Gardner’s work because he is truly one of the goats.

Last book I read: I’ve kinda started and stopped a few books recently, not for any particular reason just… idk. So instead I’m gonna plug a fic I’ve been keeping up with that published its final chapter last night: Judgement & Justice! It is such a fascinating and engaging work that explores the details of legally condemning Ikithon, the ways that the law can fail anyone, how even doing something you believe is right can be incredibly traumatizing. As one of the tags says, “the mundane horrors of the criminal justice system”. So good. I highly recommend.

Last film I watched: ummmm, yesterday I saw like 30 minutes of Wish after the school field trip bc the teacher was so kind and said, “nope. interpreters are out of commission. we’re watching a movie.” The music didn’t appeal to me too much, which sucks bc I LOVE Ariana DeBose’s voice. But I will say that the special effect art was sick and some of the character designs are cute!

Last TV series: uhhhh idk I watch a lot of YouTube. Drawfee, Zelda randomizers, that kinda stuff. and critrole obv lol :)

Last thing I googled: “peafowl”. I love birds and will infodump about them and I wanted to show my coworker how different peahens are to peacocks, and most people have no idea they’re called anything but peacocks.

Last thing I ate: ritz crackers and nutella. It’s a combination I wouldn’t have put together of my own accord, but in eighth grade, my friend brought some into history class and convinced me to try it and I’ve been sold ever since.

Sweet, savory, or spicy: Yes. However, savory and spicy go well together, but sweet doesn’t go with either. I have a massive sweet tooth and my mom raised me to have high standards for desserts, so when I have sweets, I want them to be to my taste. I like spicy food and I have a decent spice tolerance. It used to be higher but either adulthood or my anxiety meds reduced it rip :’(

Amount of sleep: ummmm about 6 hours? I should probably be getting more, but unfortunately sleep is boring.

Currently reading: The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner. I’m about halfway through, and it’s pretty enjoyable, but I hear it’s got a good twist later on so I’m excited.

currently obsessed with: you know it’s shadowgast lol. but more specifically I’m still in my How to Rest brainrot. I have a break next week, so I want to get the chapter 6 director’s commentary done and start working on the coda fic bc hnnngggghgg soft wizards.

I’m also obsessed with my cat. She’s turning 6 on Sunday and she’s been so snuggly lately! Look at her!!!

I always feel so awkward about tagging bc I never know who’s already been tagged, so if you want to do this, you are fully allowed to say that I tagged you 💕

[hisuianhellion]

//Top ten other Zelda characters you would like to see as fallers? Asking for a friend

((... oh dear christ this is gonna be a THING HUH??? Okay uh... hmm.

Let me be frank. I'm biased here. I like characters with a lotta pull in the plot. Side-characters... nnnyeh, not so much? So I hope this list includes someone you've been thinkin' about. Also this list is not in order. I would love any of the below... okay maybe Linebeck, Navi or Skull Kid are at the lowest priority but I just wrote these as they came to my mind I'm sorry--

Tulin. My boy. Tulin. My son. Tulin. I love this child with my whole heart and the BOY is my BOY and this BOY is the BOOOOOY. He would do so damn good in a Pokemon setting. My only gripe is that he'd kiiiinda prolly not be all that happy. Unless he ended up with Link/Lianka. He'd be chill then.

Revali. However. This has a giant asterisk attached: because there's ALREADY A REVALI BLOG. So I can and will suggest they smash into each other at mach 3 and make things start happening. If there wasn't? I would put him at 1. No joke. Him and Lianka being actual rivals would be fantastic, genuinely, it would fit so PERFECTLY. He's honestly my favorite of the four Champions... at least the Japanese characterization of him that isn't... kind of a dick, the localization team did him a bit dirty imo.....

Ganondorf. This man... this goddamn man. He just steals the show any game he's in, doesn't he? Ocarina of Time? A basic interpretation, but a THREATENING one. Wind Waker? THE HIGHLIGHT. OF. THE GAME. Twilight Princess? Shows up at the VERY END and proves he is every bit the force he's portrayed as (final boss being cheeseable notwithstanding). Tears of the Kingdom? My fuckin' guy. My. Fucking. GUY. HE KICK... SO MUCH ASS........... perfect villain blog character, GOD he'd be so good.

Ganondorf, but NOT EVIL. Or, perhaps, reformed in some way! I want you to blame Growing Up Gerudo for me becoming enamored with the idea of a Ganondorf that breaks the cycle of hatred Demise forced upon him. The internal AND external turmoil that could cause, the feeling of loathing for himself and those that harmed him at odds. My man in Wind Waker wasn't as clear-cut as you think. He WAS evil, despite the "coveting that wind" excuse he gave. But what if he was being SINCERE--

Navi. She deserves a chance. She does! Don't you tell me she doesn't! She is not annoying, she was their very first attempt at a companion that could help! My girl got done dirty by the fanbase and if she ended up capable of being a Trainer or Eebydeebied and needed some help? I'd be all for that. Girl's a floating encyclopedia anyhow, she'd be perfect for Pokedex research.

Skull Kid. POST-MAJORA'S MASK. Let them have their character development. They are allowed a happy ending as a treat, okay? Besides! We already have a "Shady Mask Anon", so like... c'mon. It fits better than you think.

Linebeck. The sniveling, cowardly "real man of the seas" himself. My guy is absolutely deserving of a good, great, FANTASTIC delve into potentially no longer being a sniveling, cowardly, actual real man of the seas. Prolly in Hoenn, considering things!

Urbosa. If I had to pick a non-Rito champion, her. OR... OOOOOORRRRRR... for much the same reason?

Riju. Both of these girls deserve all the time in the limelight, and I adore both of them as characters. Strong, commanding women with literal lightning powers? H'oh. They can kick SO much ass.

Tetra. My favorite Zelda. The game did her dirty by shafting her into a role of just being a damsel in distress the moment she learned who she was. She deserves to be a fuckin' Pirate Queen. She deserves every damn chance to be a swashbuckling, secretly caring, absolute badass of a hero as much as anyone else.))

[lilflowerpot]

hello again~

I'm here to ask a question about LoZ. so, I have a friend who plays and recommended it to me because she knows I love open world games and breath of the wild is (apparently) one of the best open world games ever and I've been hesitating ever since. she might be a little biased tho lol

and like. there's a sale going on right now for botw, so the recommendation just kind made itself known in my memory again

anyway so, basically I'm here to ask if it'll be worth it? I mean, the general consensus wherever I go seems to be 'amazing, go get it u won't regret it'

(and, this is totally optional, but if you could answer asap that would be great because idk when the sale ends, thank you)

p.s I love little blade. you're amazing

I think it's obvious by now that I am a //massive// Zelda fan so tbh I'm likely no less bias than your friend lmfao, but that being said I'm going to try and give as balanced a response as possible!

Pros

BotW is beautiful, and I mean b e a u t i f u l . The graphics have this lovely watercolour quality to them as an ode to the artstyle used in Skyward Sword, but more crisp & refined. Unlike a lot of the big open world games (looking at you skyrim) BotW doesn't sacrifice colour or try to be "gritty", but rather leans into that soft-apocalypse, studio ghibli vibe.

The narrative is equally lovely and fulfilling, and depending upon what order you collect Link's memories in you will likely have a different gameplay experience. You'll also meet a lovable cast of characters to whom you'll end up unreasonably attached, which will ultimately break your heart in the end,,, I apologise in advance, but I promise you it's worth the pain.

On that note, do it for my bitch-ass bird son. You'll know him when you meet him.

Link can jump. This will mean very little to you if you've not played a LoZ game before, but my boy can fucking JUMP.

You can also climb pretty much everything (bar like one specific material) which means if you want to get to that Cool Thing Over There, then with a mix of mix of ungodly arrogance, sheer willpower, and a lot of stamina potions, you can. If you suffer from the magpie brain (ie. you see a new shiny thing and become immediately sidetracked from your original objective) this will mean that you take about 10x as long as you should to do literally anything, but my god is it fun.

The soundtrack gives me feelings that I cannot put into words, and the voice acting is //phenomenal//. Importantly, Link himself does not have a voice actor which is the only correct choice considering he's been heavily implied throughout the entire LoZ franchise to be an elective mute, and I would have //hated// hearing him speak.

Link is also just a very sweet & funny golden retriever boy who occasionally sasses back like nobody's business. 10/10 protagonist.

If you like women, you will like them even more by the end. If you don't like women, there's a 90% chance you'll seriously reconsider it upon meeting [REDACTED].

The game has something for everyone: you like exploring? Well you're going to do a lot of that. You like collectables? There are so many outfits (that you can dye to your liking!) and a wholeass compendium to fill out. You like puzzles? You'll certainly find your fair share. You like combat? The basic mechanics are what you'd expect with there are enough different enemy types to keep it interesting, but dO NOT FIGHT A LYNEL WITHOUT MAKING SURE YOU HAVE ENOUGH WEAPONS BC THEY WILL BREAK AND LEAVE YOU WITH A VERY ANGRY VERY MEAN MAN TRYING TO KILL YOU.

It is genuinely very good value for money, and even more so if you can get it on sale! Not only do you have the mainline game & all its side-quests, but there's also the expansion pass, and, of course, an entire sequel just ready and waiting!

Cons

Sometimes the open world can feel a little too open. Considering the game's context, it makes sense, but comparatively games like Skyrim feel more densely packed with Things To Do, whereas BotW has several areas of overgrown nothingness that are lovely to look at, but not especially interesting (though this is better rectified in TotK).

You can't swim underwater. This was not rectified in TotK, though I dearly wish it had been.

A lot of fans used to complain about the temple format of p much every Zelda game up until this point, so the developers essentially removed temples altogether and instead replaced them with only four (technically optional) Divine Beasts, plus Hyrule Castle itself. I... did not like this. I'm a big puzzle girlie, and though BotW has shrines scattered across the landscape—most of which are puzzle-based—I personally felt that this substitute was lacking in comparison to the original. TotK does improve on this by reintroducing temples, but I still could have gone for a few more (Skyward Sword was the opposite of this, with very linear gameplay which a lot of people hated, but I personally will stand by SS's Ancient Cistern until my dying breath, and Twilight Princess had some really innovative temples that I have replayed several times over).

On a semi-adjacent note, the final boss just... wasn't my favourite. That's not to say it was bad, only as boss fights go I've had better (I did, however, like the final segment of that fight).

You will develop an immediate fear response to the Guardian music.

Ultimately though, I absolutely do think you should buy it, and am jealous that you'll get to have that bright-eyed bushy-tailed first-time experience, because believe me, if I could erase my memories and play BotW all over again, I would.

[thegeminisage]

Hmm. 20-22 inclusive …. making you be negative 😈 I’m assuming you’ll do zelda but as a scholar I’m also interested in your spn thoughts so you pick mwah

oooh dealer's choice this is so tough...what if i just answer for both LMAO im so sorry ok Lets Go

20. part of canon you found tedious or boring

for zelda: i really, really wish i liked wind waker. i wanna like wind waker so fucking bad. i love wind waker's story. i love wind waker's ganondorf. i love how bright and cheerful the graphics are contrasted with how solemn it is underground. i love the dungeons and the gameplay. but god i HATE the cartoony little balloon heads. it takes me right out of those serious moments. i don't mind stylization but if it could have been just a LITTLE BIT. less stylized. just a LITTLE LESS like animal crossing characters. it's beautiful to look at but for a game with such serious hidden elements WHICH I LOVE i find trouble taking it seriously.

for spn: god, all of crowley's little arcs. he was almost never interesting, and while you can excuse bad writing for cas because it's cas, you can't make crowley happen. fetch is never gonna happen! you can show me his fun hot mom and his dead son and it still isn't happening! he's just the walking talking embodiment of the "angels and demons are just like OFFICE WORKERS" trope which i hate so fucking deeply because it's the least sexy direction they ever took and the exact opposite of what i want from my angels and demons. all of the middle seasons suffered deeply from this. crowley COULD have been interesting, but tbh, i liked him best in the season they killed him off.

21. part of canon you think is overhyped

for zelda: i could do wind waker again but actually i completely understand the hype, bc wind waker is a great game even if i can't deal with it like a normal person. same with botw - i found most of the joy thru exploration, so it just didnt Hit on replays the way other zeldas do, but its influence cannot be understated and the hype is deserved. what if everybody is right all the time to hype any and everything about zelda?? oh wait actually. sorry. twilight princess ilia. idk if people hype her but if they do theyre wrong. love and light to her, she's Fine, but it feels kind of like a knockoff of malon (superior) and i generally dislike when link has romantic interests besides zelda, even if the love interest gets amnesia (wistful sigh). this sin was especially egregious bc zelda barely has any screentime at all, but i forgive tp for this because what screentime she DOES have is spent being in lesbians with midna. so it works out just this once due to the power of gay people, but that's some thin fucking ice. anyway, sorry to ilia and ilia fans for being a misogynist

for spn: i hate canon claire. i can't get into it in depth but like...sorry, even without the issue of My Own Claire Ideas, i still don't know if i could do it. being gay does not save her from having the exact same "damaged but spunky teen girl" personality given to almost EVERY OTHER TEENAGE GIRL (or young woman) on the show. to some extent she, krissy, mary from the winchesters, charlie, jo, alex, etc etc all have the same personality with a few defining quirks tacked on as an afterthought. do i love some of these characters? yes, of course. are they well-written? absolutely not <3

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

for zelda: in general, i think skyward sword gets a bad rap despite lanayru desert's entire (waves hand vaguely) and zelda being a fucked up evil goddess who canonically manipulates link's love for her. AND GROOSE. never forget groose. more specifically i think not enough people have acknowledged 1. the champions corpses are definitely still in those cockpits 2. oot link essentially became a stalfos by walking into the lost woods without navi and never came back. hello?? generally those dark little implications that u have read between the lines to get <3

for spn: oh baby its michael!dean. i waited so long and i only really got what i wanted for one episode but it was so good. it was SO good. no one else is as hype about the fact that it took nine REAL LIFE YEARS to get there. a DECADE of my finite time on earth. but ohhh was it ever worth the wait. what else could i possibly write 100k+ about

[ASK MEME]

[vestaclinicpod]

Audio Drama Sunday - 3rd September ✨

I think it’s criminal to have to work on a Sunday instead of going on a little walk and listening to little podcasts, but here we are 🫠 It’s been a frankly ridiculous week of listening and there’s still so much more I haven’t had time to catch yet! 

🌲@hellofromthehallowoods (131) Percy! Going to get Diggory! I think it makes it so bittersweet that he was about to apologise off the bat because you just KNOW that when they meet for real it won’t happen that easily. My god, I could listen to.a whole show just about this hastily assembled Friends of Zelda team. It’s so lovely to have Alice back in the narrative and I care for Tattery Stabs so much!! ‘How much do you like your brother?’ Really cracked me up. I love how hfth takes horror tropes (e.g. creepy doll) and they’re immediately someone new to love.  Speaking of someone to love!! Hector is putting in a really good bid for the award of ‘most traumatised man in the Hallowoods’, though the competition remains tough. This experience will no doubt have changed him, I can’t wait to find out how!

🦀 @thesiltverses (31) So many new and familiar voices in this new season and all of them are delightful! The writing and delivery of Val’s monologue in particular was so powerful and I was left cringing in my skin at the callous assertions that she is controllable… did we just hear the same thing? I have no idea what is going to happen this season and it’s thrilling and terrifying in equal measure! 

🦮 @malevolentcast (35) This episode is such a rollercoaster oh my god!! There are so many layers of horror here! Not just the fear of the ‘other’ and of what other humans can do, but also the intrinsic fear of losing the self.  What’s happening with John is so very unsettling, it’s been so long that we’ve almost taken for granted the way that John guides Arthur . . . what will he do when he can’t trust John’s assessment of the situation? 

📻 @monstrousagonies (110) penultimate?! Excuse me??!! Penultimate!!! How am I going to cope without having fictional night folk problems solving my actual real life problems every week?? Panic aside, I really loved this episode. I was so glad to hear the presenter telling the author of the first letter that it actually wouldn’t be unreasonable to kick off just a little. I’ve often thought about just bringing a cat home and seeing what my wife would do . . . (I know this is bad, it’s not going to happen 👀) BUT a CHILD? And aw, yay, what a satisfying end to an unsatisfactory CEO. It was a pleasure to meet station and the MA community was in fine voice! 

🌒 @monkeymanproductions Moonbase Theta Out FINALE!! I’m not going to share too many thoughts today because it may not even be out at the time of posting but IT’S AMAZING GO LISTEN!!!! Seriously, I cried so much at the thought of this show being over. I’ve loved it for such a long time and it’s been amazing to listen to it grow and see all the team’s hard work pay off spectacularly! 

🧛‍♂️ @re-dracula what a busy, busy week for the Dracula characters! Marriages, millions of kisses, casual medical abuse, VAN HELSING. What a week. 

🧬 Regina Prime (7) Damn, Epsilon has both the fire and the fight! Veeerrryyy interesting that Omega needs an assistant with a physical body… what have you got, Omega? I’m imagining a clone that is 1000s of years old, more mush than human. And the slip up with the number of clones . . .  Omega . . . ? Something you want to share with the rest of the class?? 

 💫 Wolf 359 (49 - 50) I am usually not the biggest fan of time loop stories but, of course, if W359 makes it, you know it’s gonna be great. The whole set up of the aliens being unable to communicate clearly because Doug chats absolute shit all the time is just so endearing to me. I can’t believe I’m getting so close to the end! 

🏴‍☠️ Yes, I did listen to the @levianpod pilot again. What of it? Please, please support this show if you can! It must be made. I need it. 

🎧 So lovely to hear from @thestoragepapers in last week’s episode of The First Episode Of! I feel like it’s so brave to ask for people to join in on the writing of your show but we love to see a collaboration thriving!! I need to bump this up my to-listen list! 

🐬 @patterspod (3) Fiona Caruso, the woman, the myth, the legend. Someone needs to check in on the thriller writers because they’re just not okay… Also, Ryan, you idiot. I don’t even know if we can blame the influence of some eldritch force on these bad publishing attempts, but I feel like he’s going to snap like one of twig man’s branches at the slightest supernatural pressure. Which will be fun for us, at least! 

All these amazing episodes, but my ears are bigger than my schedule and I still need to listen to new KILL FM. I’ve been really, really meaning to catch up on Additional Postage Required as well! Here’s hoping for a more chilled week next week! 🤞

[hawthornsword]

Today, on The Bad Batch!!! (Episode 2x5)

Star Wars does Indiana Jones, with a dash of The Hobbit.

That robot thing reminds me an awful lot of the Divine Beasts from Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Echo continues to be "one black coffee" dad (as per my previous post), and I love him for it. And seriously, when is Echo gonna get more episodes/a story arc that focuses on him? He looks kinda depressed over there in the background. I'm worried about him.

Hunter is jealous of Omega's new hero worship of Phee, and personally I find this hilarious. I don't know why I love annoying the hell out of the overly serious character, (I actually used to be the overly serious person who people loved to annoy), but just like Wolffe with C-3PO, I'm here for it.

Oh no. The last time clones went down underground tunnels it did not end well. I'm so nervous. Oh god oh god oh - oh. Well that was anticlimactic.

I keep seeing fanfiction where Omega finds some out of the way place to disappear and grow up normal, and that's just??? Bizarre??? This kid was trapped in an out of the way secret sheltered life for years. She's desperate to see the galaxy and have experiences! She's never gonna sit still. This treasure hunting business definitely makes more sense for her. Truly amazing when canon actually does something that makes sense.

Plus there's like, the symbolic nature of Omega and her adventures representing that there is still good and wonderful things to experience, even in a world run by the Empire. It's a big galaxy, and theres a lot going on. That's always the message of Star Wars - bad shit happens, but it's all happened before and it will all happen again, and the important thing is to keep that hope for the future, the desire to keep going and find something great. It's all about hope and perseverance, and this giant scary weapon of the past is a reminder that even though there will always be bad people, the good people will always stand up and fight against the big scary monsters, and then move on and rebuild a life for themselves. Nobody even remembers who built this weapon, who the villain was. But someone had to turn off that weapon or it would have just kept going. Which means the good guys won.

And finally, just on principle:

Where is Cody? Is he safe?! I demand answers! How dare you make me wait weeks at a time between seeing him!!!

(Actually, if Cody never again appears in canon media I'd be fine with that because then I can assume the best case scenario.)

[fourswords]

Coming into your house and blowing you a kiss. 💗💓💘💖💞💖♥️❤️♥️💓💘💖♥️💓💘💓 Hello, Kate 💖💖💞💓💘💕♥️❤️💗♥️💗💕💖💓❤️!!!! I found a secondhand version of BotW and have succumbed to consumerism, so I'll be able to give you Proper Thoughts on the game uhhhhhhhhhhhh eventually. when it arrives. Anyway, please tell me all about 1986 Zelda if you want because I literally know nothing about her or the OG game, and you're so genius. Also, hysterical to see you complain about BotW's music. Get her ass. Okay love you bye hope you're having a fantastic day 💘❤️💞♥️💗♥️💗♥️💖💓❤️💗

HIIIIII FREYA HELLO ILY I AM WELCOMING YOU INTO MY HOME WITH A VARIETY OF SNACKS AND BEVERAGES AND BLANKETS <33333 also PLEASE let me know how the game is when you play it!!!! i would genuinely love your thoughts on it and on the characters and everything else about it (including the music).

and oh my god. the og princess zelda. my darling dearest. i'm going to have to stick this under a readmore because i'm going to go on a rampage about it i just know it.

okay. so. the original legend of zelda game. the best thing to say about this hyrule is that it's been completely fucking annihilated. people are scattered and living in caves. there is no safe haven anywhere. there are even secret fucking moblins that link can find that are friendlier (they give you free rupees! :]) than the people who've set up shop in caves of their own and the only thing they yell at you is "BUY SOMETHIN' WILL YA!" and like. that's it. your only allies are these weird old people who also live in caves who give you swords sometimes. there's no map there's no towns there's fucking NOTHING. and since it's a game made for the NES in the 80s the only lore you really have is in the original manual for the game, and that's where zelda comes in:

"One day, an evil army attacked this peaceful little kingdom and stole the Triforce of Power. This army was led by Ganon, the powerful Prince of Darkness who sought to plunge the world into fear and darkness under his rule. Fearing his wicked rule, Zelda, the princess of this kingdom, split up the Triforce of Wisdom into eight fragments and hid them throughout the realm to save the last remaining Triforce from the clutches of the evil Ganon. At the same time, she commanded her most trustworthy nursemaid, Impa, to secretly escape into the land and go find a man with enough courage to destroy the evil Ganon. Upon hearing this, Ganon grew angry, imprisoned the princess, and sent out a party in search of Impa."

so the thing about having the entirety of a game's lore be based in a manual is that, essentially, the lore would have to be simplified. the full "story" is exactly two small booklet-pages long and it was going to stay that way because they were just trying to give hyrule a backstory and not write a novel. however. given how fucking treacherous and deserted hyrule is at the beginning of the actual game i think it's pretty safe to say that the war between hyrule and ganon's army lasted a hell of a lot longer than ganon just marching in and taking over everything. at least then there would still be ruins. but anyway. zelda. zeldaaaa my girllllllll the original zelda the one everyone in the fucking fandom consistently forgets about over and over again. she is drawn to be pretty much the exact same age as link in zelda 1 so i think it's safe to assume that they're both ten years old (since the sequel, zelda 2: adventure of link, happens about six years later when link is approaching his 16th birthday as per the aol manual). so it's like. you are a princess and you are ten years old and you have grown up on the legends of a hero that stopped the great evil every time it rose up (the hero of legend, for instance, who is the protagonist in games like a link to the past, oracle of ages/seasons, link's awakening, etc.) but ganon's army is winning and there is no hero in sight and so. what are you supposed to do. what are you supposed to do!!!! you command your nursemaid to escape, to potentially find a new hero to save the kingdom, but when you grew up in hell there's only so much stock you can put in the legends. so you take the triforce of wisdom, the triforce piece that You, Specifically were always meant to be the wielder for, and you shatter it, and you travel throughout the land hiding its pieces so that if everything goes to hell even harder then at least you can say that you tried to stop it. let some other princess be the one to panic and freeze and let the triforce of wisdom be taken. it will not be you. (and it IS implied to be her!!!! SHE is the one who hid them throughout the land! she didn't pass it off to her knights, she didn't have impa do it, no!!! none of that!!!! SHE DID IT!!!!)

and she's not hiding them in random bushes or anything!!! fuck no!!! SHE'S LITERALLY TRAVERSING THE DUNGEONS THAT LINK HIMSELF WILL GO INTO TO RETRIEVE THE TRIFORCE PIECES SHE HID!!!!! she essentially threw her hands up and went FUCK it if the goddesses of old won't send us a hero then i'll just be my OWN hero because i am NOT LETTING GANON GET AHOLD OF THIS TRIFORCE PIECE!!!!! like this girl had to be running across what might be the unsafest version of hyrule in the entire series and fighting all the dungeon monsters and dungeon BOSS monsters and whatnot all to hide the triforce pieces. and she's just a kid like link is!!! and it always makes me wonder. like. if she'd put just a little less stock in the legends. if she'd manage to get her hands on the magical sword and the silver arrows like link did. she would have been JUST as capable of killing ganon as link was. and actually i could go on and on and on about the courageousness of her actions vs. the fact that link actually genuinely only wielded the triforce of wisdom against ganon (which is a HARD left from the fact that. yknow. HE'S SUPPOSED TO BE THE WIELDER OF THE TRIFORCE OF COURAGE ACCORDING TO EVERY OTHER GAME). and then like. the thing is. okay so at the end of zelda 1 when link finally rescues zelda and she calls him the hero of hyrule and whatnot the sprites do a little victory pose where they both hold the two triforce pieces (wisdom and power) over their heads. BUT. the manual states that link quite literally leaves hyrule for a while WITH both triforce pieces. and it makes me wonder......did the triforce of wisdom "reject" zelda in a sense because she shattered it? there's such a gray area when it comes to the first two games because, again, the Lore Is Condensed Within The Tiny Fucking Manual Booklet Pages, but god. can you imagine it. the triforce you broke to protect suddenly deemed you unworthy of being its bearer. or something to that effect. my GOD.

AND!!!! this is only supported by the fact that in the zelda 2 manual, link is stated to have returned to hyrule in order to help the rebuilding efforts (because, as the manual states, "hyrule was on the road to ruin" as if it wasn't ruined already lmao) and in the zelda 2 game itself, LINK STILL HAS THE TRIFORCES OF WISDOM AND POWER!!! (not to mention the poor guy's fucked because he's got a curse on his blood that makes ganon's followers want to sacrifice him to revive ganon but this ain't about him). and combined with the triforce of courage (which he finally gets after six years) he uses it to wake.....another princess zelda. who was in a coma. for centuries. and she was put into this coma during a much happier time in history. and this is where people start to forget about the og zelda and focus on the sleeping zelda from zelda 2 instead because there's a zelink kiss involved at the end but whatever. and HONESTLY it opens up a whole NEW can of worms for the og zelda because god!!! fuck!!! there's now a whole new princess zelda from centuries past who was raised as a "proper" princess who wasn't fighting for her fucking life in dungeons after shattering the very thing she was meant to wield!!! i think about it so much. i wonder if she catches herself staring at this strange new princess zelda who never had to fight anything, who was never captured and kept in an inescapable circle of fire after shattering her birthright, who grew up learning about politics and inter-kingdom relationships while her own studies probably would've been about keeping the kingdom from exploding and imploding and every other type of fucking -ploding in on itself because Everything's Fucked, and thinks: maybe she would have made a better choice than me.

(and then in the other corner you have the now-awakened princess zelda from centuries past, waking up in a world where Everything's Fucked, and looking at the zelda who is her brother's descendant and seeing the strength of her willpower in every move she makes and thinking: she would never have simply stood there and let herself succumb to the magician's spell that made me sleep for generations like i did. but that's another post.)

and also. anyway. unrelated but also related. og zelda is cute as hell. look at her look at my girl:

she's so cute. she must've fucking destroyed so many monsters hiding those triforce pieces. if anything happens to her i'll kill everyone on this planet and then myself. i like to think over the years as link came back to hyrule and started helping hyrule rebuild they became close friends and fight monsters together sometimes. dynamic duo of all time. the feral little hero who appeared out of fucking nowhere like a demon in the night (no literally link has ZERO backstory in these games he's literally just Forest Child Supreme) and the courageous little princess who would have done anything to keep ganon from gaining even more power. someone did a comic on their take of their first meeting and i still think about it sometimes. "i nearly died getting those pieces you hid." "i nearly died hiding those pieces you got." I'LL FUCKING LOSE IT MAN!!!!! I REALLY WILL!!!!!!

ahem. did any of that make sense.

[sage-nebula]

Jounouchi for the meme :3

What I like about them

His bravery and determination! This boy has endless perseverance and six hundred yen to his name and he will make the most of both of them. An Egyptian God couldn't kill him in a way that mattered, and people really think they're going to stop him when he puts his mind to something? Please. He's also snarky and funny as hell (in the manga / English dub of the anime, at least). Love this boy.

What I dislike about them

In the early parts of the manga he was a perv toward women because haha, perversion is so funny, right? 🙃 No, it's not. Rest in peace, Takahashi, but I hate how much you included male characters being pervs in the early chapters of the manga. (Jounouchi was far from the only victim of this.)

Favourite moment

Either when he stayed in the Black Crown to rescue Yuugi during the fire, or the pier duel when he broke through the Millennium Rod's control to save Yuugi from drowning. 😭 My heart will never recover fr.

Least favourite moment

Again, the moments in the early part of the manga when he was a perv toward the female characters . . . so fucking gross.

A situation with this character that I want to see explored more

Honestly I feel like not enough attention is paid to the fact that the home Jounouchi comes from is not only broken, but that he's scraping by by the skin of his teeth working part-time jobs (which he really shouldn't even be doing as a high school student, but does it anyway to support himself and his piece of shit dad). Like jokes are made in the manga about how Jounouchi will jump at the chance to make some money, or how he'll scarf down any food he can get his hands on, but like, yeah! He's dirt poor! His dad is a worthless scumbag who is abusive and neglectful and doesn't work! He has food insecurity because again, he's broke as hell. And yet he never makes this anyone else's problem, he doesn't resent his sister at all for getting to leave with their mom (and instead just loves her endlessly) . . . he's a great kid and doesn't get enough appreciation for the shit hand he was dealt in life and how he just bares his teeth in a grin and deals with it anyway. Kaiba could fucking never.

An interesting AU for this character

I like my AU where he still survived Ra's attack in Battle City, but did so at the cost of losing his memory (which leads to Shizuka taking him back to Hanafuda City with her to live with their mom after the tournament is over). And of course A Candle in the Dark is my magnum opus, and also counts since it's a canon divergence.

A crossover

I still love my Legend of Zelda crossover, which is less a crossover and more of a blend of the Hylian cycle surviving into modern times . . . even though it's in no way canon, Jounouchi having the Spirit of the Hero is canon in my heart.

OTP (or OT3+ etc…. just… favourite ship)

Jounouchi/Yuugi, of course. I maintain this ship would be so, so much more popular if people read the manga / the anime was actually faithful to the manga.

Other ships?

None, tbh, although I do really like his dynamic with Anzu . . . if Yuugi didn't exist then I would probably ship Jounouchi with her. But since Yuugi exists, lol, nope.

BROTP

Jounouchi & Anzu, since Yuugi exists. Their relationship development is just so good. They literally start at the very bottom of "only tolerate each other for Yuugi's sake," but then by the time Battle City rolls around they're hanging out without Yuugi and Anzu is enthusiastically cheering him on. (Not to mention how she told off Kaiba for his sake? Baller.) Their relationship is sooooo good.

And of course, I would be remiss if I didn't mention Shizuka! The little sister ever. The one who inspires Jounouchi to keep fighting, for her sake if nothing else. The one who wanted to give him courage right back! It's really unfortunate that Takahashi didn't do more with Shizuka—she deserved so much better, she deserved to show that she has the same fire her brother does!—but that's okay. I can fill in the gaps myself. <3

NOTP

Jounouchi/Kaiba and Jounouchi/Mai, and to a slightly lesser extent Jounouchi/Atem because it really doesn't make sense with Yuugi there / I can't do that to Yuugi. (It doesn't make sense because canonically Jounouchi always picks Yuugi over Atem, and I can't do that to Yuugi because Yuugi already feels inferior to Atem; having his best friend pick Atem over him would be just cruel.)

An assortment of headcanons! 

He's allergic to cats! He has a Kuriboh keychain on his keyring that Yuugi gave him. (He gave a Baby Dragon keychain to Yuugi in return.) He has a Sonic the Hedgehog cell phone charm while Shizuka has a Tails one. He associates miso soup with being sick because it's what his mom used to make for him when he was little. His favorite fruit is satsuma oranges, because when his parents were fighting before his mom left, he'd put orange slices in his mouth and smile around them, which would make Shizuka laugh / distract her from the fighting. He's good at math. His favorite NES game is Battletoads, though he's never beaten it. He's a decent cook, because he had to learn or he wouldn't eat after his mom left. He doesn't ever drink alcohol because of the alcohol-related trauma that comes with having an abusive alcoholic as a father. (And similarly, any partners drinking alcohol would be a massive turn-off.) He's bisexual. He likes games of chance, but never gambles for money because the reality that he could lose that money gives him (metaphorical) hives. He learned how to hotwire a car when he was thirteen, and knows how to drive even though he never gets his driver's license. He grows up to be a radio DJ with a talk show all his own after high school. He also does Let's Plays and game commentary. He doesn't have a co-host for his radio show because he talks so much he honestly doesn't need one. (He's got the gift of gab.) He's actually pretty good at basketball. His favorite band is Siam Shade.